It all started with my pens!

“One thought. One idea. One experiment and the constant question of what if. That’s what the artist’s life is all about. A constant journey of exploration.” — Shawn Petite

I was gifted this beautiful set of blue acrylic markers, and I immediately fell in love with them. They were rich and opaque, with such a wonderful range of colors that, of course, I ended up buying every color set they had!

I’d played with them a little and made some swatches, but I hadn’t really put them to the test.

So I sat down with my stack of pens, grabbed some paper, and decided this would be my daily creative practice.

No finished project in mind. No pressure to make something beautiful.

Just play.

I wanted to see how far I could push these pens. Could I make them look like watercolor? Were they really permanent? And then my favorite question started creeping in…

What if?

What if I tried them on medical exam paper? What would happen if I used them with stencils? Could I blend the colors? What about color mixing? Could I use them to make interesting background and collage papers?

One question led to another, and another, and another.

And really, isn’t that the artist’s life?

We’re constantly wondering, What if I tried this? What would this look like with that? What happens if I push it a little further?

That curiosity is where so much of the magic happens.

But I think sometimes we forget how important it is to simply play. We sit down to create with the finished piece already in our minds. We want it to work. We want it to be beautiful. We want to know where we’re going before we’ve even started.

And that’s often where we get stuck.

There is so much freedom in creating without knowing the ending.

So today, I hope my process gives you permission to play. To experiment. To make a mess. To make something you love and something you absolutely don’t!

Because you’ll see some of my not-so-great experiments today, too.

But the “bad” experiments teach us just as much as the good ones. They give us information. They point us in another direction. And sometimes they lead us straight to that little spark that makes us think…

Ooooh… what if I tried this?

And we’re off again.

That’s how we grow. That’s how we get unstuck. That’s how we discover new things about our supplies, our art, and even ourselves.

We practice play.

So grab something you’ve been wanting to experiment with, forget about making something finished, and start asking yourself…

What if?

One last thing… stop saving the good stuff for something special. “Paint is only wasted when it stays in the tube”

Go have some fun, and always know that you are loved!

Stencils used: These will be on sale this week

• Linked up 8×10
• Geometric squares 8×10
• Petals 1 9×12
• Topsy Turvy not mask 9×12